Misconduct Category

Council upset parishes over area partnership

Angry parish councillors in Northumberland have accused the county council of reneging on a promise to consult them properly over the establishment of a key umbrella organisation. A cluster of parishes claim they were not allowed effective input to the process which led to the formation of the North Northumberland Area Partnership (NNAP) – which [...]

The Great Inertia Sector: A whistleblower’s account of council work where staff pull six-month sickies

In his emergency Budget this week, Chancellor George Osborne announced he was cutting public sector expenditure by 25 per cent. Unions have declared the cuts irresponsible. But are they? Here, one employee for a large inner London authority lifts the lid on the culture of inertia and incompetence at his workplace. The Mail knows the [...]

Plymouth City Council fined £8000 for WEEE breach

Plymouth City Council has been fined £8,000 for allowing unauthorised firms to remove and sell unwanted computers from its waste plants. The council breached the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) by letting firms take computers and other electronic items without checking that they were bona fide recyclers. The Environment Agency took the council [...]

Cut these greedy pen pushers and free the nation

THE recently departed Labour Government left an appalling legacy. Endemic waste and mismanagement have almost bankrupted the public finances. As the former Chief Secretary Liam Byrne breezily confess ed on his departure from the Treasury last month after his party’s long reign of profligacy: “There’s no money left.” A key part of this spendthrift culture [...]

Colchester Council is told: Hand over Vaf info – or else

COLCHESTER Council has been ordered – on pain of prosecution – to release secret papers about the building of the town’s controversial new arts facility. The Government’s official information watchdog has severely criticised the council for trying to keep private information about the unfinished and hugely over-budget Visual Arts Facility. An investigation by the Information [...]

Data snoop claim probe is launched by Plymouth council

AN URGENT investigation has been launched by Plymouth City Council’s leader after reports staff may have snooped on taxpayers’ private details. Councillor Vivien Pengelly has ordered the probe after Plymouth was named as one of number of authorities where council staff were suspected of illegally accessing a private tax and benefits database. Reports have suggested [...]

Three jailed over £1.3m adult learning contracts scam

Three people have been jailed over an adult learning skills contracts scam in Shropshire. Paul Kent, 46, of Telford, admitted receiving about £300,000 in kickbacks from Learning Skills Council contracts worth £1.3m, which he granted to his co-defendants. He was jailed for four and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court. Silinder Singh Sidhu, of [...]

North Tyneside guilty of maladministration after barring resident from meetings

The Local Government Ombudsman has found North Tyneside Council guilty of maladministration after it barred a man from council meetings. The Ombudsman, Anne Seex, recommended that the local authority train staff on the public’s right to attend meetings and established public law principles in relation to administrative decision-making. Mr H’s relationship with various representatives of [...]

Is the Council using ‘Big Brother’ spies?

Councils stand accused of the use of covert surveillance powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) — designed to tackle terrorism – to tackle petty crimes such as noise nuisance and fly-tipping. But is Rochdale Borough Council doing so? Despite a Freedom of Information request by pressure group Big Brother Watch, Rochdale Borough [...]

Freedom Pass taken off woman with learning disabilities

A woman with learning disabilities has been stripped of her free travel pass after a west London council said that her IQ was too high for her to qualify. Yvonne Chappell, 39, has had a Freedom Pass for 10 years but Hounslow Council turned down her renewal application. The west London council said its ruling [...]